A Rubber latex is being used for the production of a variety of products, such as surgical gloves, condoms etc. The use of rubber latex has, however, been associated with several drawbacks, such as for example latex allergies in health care personnel wearing rubber latex surgical gloves. These reactions may be due to direct allergic reactions resulting from direct contact of the rubber latex allergens with the skin of the wearer, or may result from inhalation of airborne latex allergens adhered to the starch powder that is commonly used as donning powder for rubber latex surgical gloves. The starch powder itself, when used in surgery, may be left behind in the patient's wound and can, besides the aforementioned hypersensitivity reactions, also lead to the formation of granulomas and adhesions.
The present invention aims to obviate the drawbacks that are associated with the use of rubber latex articles, such as surgical gloves.
It is thus a first object of the invention to reduce the allergen activity of natural rubber latex in order to reduce the incidence of latex allergies.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a donning powder for rubber latex surgical gloves which is easily absorbed by body tissues and thus does not give rise to granuloma formation and adhesions when introduced into the body.